Charles Rolls

The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls ( born August 27, 1877 in Berkeley Square, London, † July 12, 1910 in Bournemouth) was, along with Frederick Henry Royce founder of the automobile company Rolls- Royce.

CS Rolls was born in London, the son of the 1st Baron Llangattock. He studied at Eton College and at Trinity College, Cambridge and was interested in since his youth for engines. Rolls teamed up with Frederick Henry Royce and founded in 1904 by the car manufacturer Rolls- Royce. Rolls was on the business end, Royce was responsible for the technology.

Rolls was also an aviation pioneer and was the second Briton from the Royal Aero Club, a flight license. He was the first to cross the English Channel in 1910 two times with an airplane. In the same year, Rolls came in a flying accident over Bournemouth killed when the rear of his aircraft built by the Wright brothers broke off. He was the first Briton, who lost his life in a plane crash, but already the tenth Pilot in the past two years.

The crash

The London Times described in its issue of 13 July 1910 crash of CS Rolls in a precision flying competition on the outskirts of Bournemouth to the last detail. The almost 33 - year-old had already flown in the morning with his biplane of the French Wright company a competitive round, but ended up taking a 24 meter distance significantly further from the target as a competitor (13 meters). At 12.25 clock Rolls lifted again from:

" The plane was about 50 feet [about 15 meters ] above the ground than the left side of the tail broke off together with the left part of the rudder. Immediately was heard the sound of splintering wood. The thousands of spectators saw what had happened, and the silence of terror spread through the crowd as the machine sharp tions floor and turned back, so now flew on the back. In this position, the biplane hit from a height of 30-40 feet to the ground. The crash was horrific and was replaced immediately by a loud noise - the explosion of the engine. It was immediately clear when Mr. Rolls did not die immediately, he had to have suffered serious injuries. The first to reach the accident site, found Mr. Rolls next to the machine are. He had apparently suffered no serious cuts. When they lifted him to lay it on a board, it seemed as if he would have moved shortly. So they started resuscitation. When Dr. Hardy came to him ether was administered. However, this was a lost hope. The doctor said that death was probably occurred by the crushing directly on impact. The signal sounded, the competition was not continued. "